Once Upon Yesterday
by The Winter Spider
Summary: " Five years ago I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran, somebody shot at my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff, I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him straight through me." What happened in Odessa. Rating because I'm paranoid. ONESHOT.


Once Upon Yesterday by Winter Spider.

Disclaimer: Only the Engineer is mine, any other characters you recognise belong to Marvel.

"I know who killed Fury" Natasha's voice was hard yet had a tinge of nervousness. Steve's fingers were digging into her arms, causing her eyes to dart around, her mind already looking for an escape. It was only when Steve loosened his grip on Natasha that she remembered where she was, and who she was with.

"Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists' she said rapidly, her eyes looking out the window to see if she was in any danger of getting caught, her words were coming out quicker now, because the quicker she said them, the safer she was. "the ones who do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years." Her voice was hard and emotionless, her own kills making themselves known in her mind.

"So he's a ghost story?" Steve asked, his brow scrunched together, probably trying to play chess with his new found enemy in his mind.

Natasha opened her mouth and spoke " Five years ago I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran" A memory then flashed into her mind, but she spoke on still "somebody shot at my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff, I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there." her voice was stoic now, and it was only her training that kept her from reacting in a counter-productive way "I was covering my engineer, so he shot him straight through me." She lifted up the hem of her shirt to let Steve see her wound, his eyes widened, but only by a fraction. "Bye Bye Bikinis" she said in dark humour.

"Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now" Steve was trying to sound tough, that much was easy to tell. He had just found out that the Winter Soldier would stop at nearly nothing to make a kill. Even shoot through an associate. Natasha let a hint of a smile ghost her face, she knew he was trying to be strong, but he could not fool her, she was the queen, and her mask made out of laughter, while her face held tears.

She could remember the day clearly, it was a hot day in Odessa, and her cargo, a Nuclear Scientist named Amir Shirazi was driving her insane. "Woman, the air conditioning. NOW!" It had taken all her willpower not to put a bullet between his eyes.

"I am sorry sir, but it appears to be faulty" she told him for the fifth time that day.

Amir grumbled some profanities before slumping in his seat. "Do you think my invention will work? he asked her suddenly, albeit the cockiness still lacing his voice.

Natasha rolled her eyes and gripped her steering wheel tighter "Of course sir" she replied honestly, he may be irritating, but he was the best the world had.

That was last conversation the two shared for twenty minutes. The two drove on for around five more kilometres, before Shirazi gasped. Natasha whipped around. "What's the matter?"

"I could have sworn I saw a man! On top of the hill!" He exclaimed, pushing his face against the glass, squashing his large nose in the process.

Natasha was unsettled, her training was kicking in more forcefully now, her eyes darting out from underneath her red lashes. Clint always told her that her hair was blonde before she became an assassin, and that the blood from her victims dyed her hair, she would laugh and slap him lightly, and he would smile, that goofy smiled that always reached his eyes. She missed Clint, having not seen him for months now, she did not even know if he was alive. She quickly swallowed and pushed the thought away, and replied to Shirazi "It's most likely nothing, just relax sir," though she eyed the cliff on their right with loathing.

Natasha was more alert after Shirazi's outburst. He knuckles were white, her mind on overdrive, if she failed this task, well, it would be a long time before she saw Clint again.

She did not see it coming. She should have. So why didn't she? She should have seen the signs, and assessed the situation more analytically. The first bullet struck straight through the window, and got her in the hand, causing Natalia to swerve off the road out of surprise. She clenched her teeth and pressed down on the accelerator —hard. "What is it woman? Why have you gone faster?" came Shirazi's nasally voice from the back seat.

Natalia sighed deeply. "Do you want to die?" She questioned him, her voice stoically calm.

Shirazi was silent for a while, before hesitantly replying "Well no, but—!"

Natalia cut of off with a sharp bark "Then sit down and shut up."

She snuck a glance into her rear view mirror, and noticed Shirazi's face had become a couple shades lighter. She turned her attention to the road once more to see a faint figure about twenty meters away. She slammed her foot on the brake, and the car ground to a halt.

She saw the assailant up close now and knew who, and what; he was. James Barnes, the Winter Soldier, her trainer. They had been close friends when he was training her.

She was one hundred percent sure all those happy sentiments were non-existent now. He would not even remember her, a friend. She stared at him, and he stared back blankly. Suddenly he dipped his head and raised his left arm in a salute, a sign of respect and recognition. He recognised her. That was an upside at least. Before she knew what was happening, he turned and bolted. She wondered why, the Winter Soldier always goes for the kill. She whipped around to her cargo, Amir Shirazi was still alive. So why would he run aw— Bomb.

Her eyes widened comically before she yelled "GET OUT OF THE CAR!"

"what?" was the dumbfounded response.

"Get out now!" she screamed. She was already out the window and dragging Shirazi away from the car. But it was too late, the explosion burst out from under the car, smoke and gas billowing out from everywhere it could, the explosion was enough to knock both the car and themselves over the edge of the cliff.

Natalia was still holding onto Shirazi when they went over, but the car fell the sixty feet before colliding with the rocks and ocean below. Natalia was holding onto a little ledge on the side of the cliff face, the problem was it was her bullet ridden hand. It was getting harder and harder to hold onto herself and an overweight man. "Natasha?"

She blinked, that was the first time he had not called her woman. "Yes?" she replied, noting the pain and agony in his voice.

"My leg. My right leg, I can't feel it, there is only pain" he whimpered out. She looked down, and noticed that Shirazi should be crying and writing in agony, for he no longer had a right leg from below his knee. She did not tell him this, of course. Then she remembered his file, that he had stunted feeling halfway down his right thigh.

"You are going to be fine Sir, just bear with me," she said in a calm voice, even though calm was an emotion she was not feeling.

The sun? Where did the sun go? She looked up and found James' muzzled face looking at her. His eyes sad and angry. She wanted to cry out, scream, but any negative emotion shown from her would only scare Shirazi, who was blacking out from the immediate blood loss. The second bullet came to her kidney, and that is where her world went half black, half from the pain of both wounds, half from the strain she was putting her body under despite those injuries. She looked up at him in pain, but no emotion was shown from James. She found Shirazi's grip weakening, and looked down, blood was pouring from his stump, and there was a bullet hole right through his chest. Dead. She closed her eyes and weakened her grip, leaving the dead nuclear engineer to fall from her grasp.

She looked at James once again, but his eyes were trained solely on the fallen man, like he held some symbol to his past life. In that moment she recalled all the time sparring while talking about who he used to be.

_"Why do you have an American accent?" She had asked him once._

_" I don't know, I know nothing other than my surroundings." He replied forlorn._

_"Do you know who you were?" She pressed._

_"I don't know anything, for all I know I could have been a soldier or a babysitter, maybe a street fighter, maybe I had a girlfriend, or a boyfriend, parents or no, but I just don't know Nat." He said, sitting down and taking a swig from his water bottle._

That was the last time they had discussed his previous identity.

Suddenly a familiar metal hand was held out, she looked at it skeptically, before deciding why not? She grasped it, and James pulled her up. She stood up and looked at James "Why?"

"We're even now, no favours owed" He said, albeit his voice being muffled by bis muzzle. He quickly turned tail and ran, his arm glinting in the sunlight.

She turned to the wreckage, and could have sworn she saw a hand before it dipped below the waves, but she shrugged it off. She spun around and fished the bullet out of her hand and thought.

_It's just the life of a spy, that's all it is Natalia, live and let die._


End file.
